The Houston firm picked to bring the Glendale 180 project to fruition has backed out, although Glendale officials, who kept the break-up under wraps for months, insist the large entertainment and dining project remains alive.

“We are still moving forward with the Glendale 180 project. There is no lack of resolve on that project,” said Chuck Line, the deputy city manager.

Provided by City of Glendale

Glendale 180, shown in the rendering above, is a 270,000-square-foot commercial undertaking that would boast 25 bars and restaurants, including a “common consumption” area where adults could carry around to-go alcoholic drinks.

Glendale selected Wulfe & Co. in a competitive process in March 2015 to flesh out the conceptual plans it had drafted for Glendale 180, formerly known as the Glendale Riverwalk.

The $175 million project was supposed to include 25 bars and restaurants, a hotel and 2,200 parking spaces on 42 acres of land between Colorado Boulevard and Cherry Street on the south side of Virginia Avenue near Cherry Creek.

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Even by metro Denver standards, Glendale 180 was going to be ambitious, an over-the-top effort to restore Glendale’s draw as a go-to entertainment district and raise sales tax revenues.

But things unraveled last year and Glendale 180 didn’t break ground this year as planned.

“We couldn’t come to business terms on a development agreement,” said Bob Sellingsloh, president of Wulfe & Co., which the city’s urban renewal authority picked after putting out a request for developers.

Sellingsloh said Wulfe backed out at the end of last year, before it signed an agreement to make it the official developer. Line used the analogy of an engagement that never made it to the altar.

When Gaylord Entertainment backed out as the developer of what is slated to become the state’s largest hotel near Denver International Airport, Aurora officials immediately began a search for a replacement.

But Glendale took a different tack, keeping the split quiet until a lawsuit from M.A.K. Investment Group brought it to the light of day. M.A.K. is the investment arm of the Kholghy family, which owns the Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs store at 550 S. Colorado Blvd. and five acres of surrounding retail land once considered important to the Glendale 180 project.

Fearful of being stripped of its land via eminent domain if the project moved forward, the family sued the Glendale Urban Renewal Authority, seeking to block Wulfe’s appointment as developer.

Arapahoe County District Judge Charles Pratt on Monday threw out the case on the grounds that M.A.K. had no standing. Its land isn’t part of the project, and the removal of Wulfe as developer was a non-issue, because the firm had backed out.

“We are thrilled with the judge’s decision that Glendale cannot condemn our land for Glendale 180,” Nasrin Kholghy, family spokeswoman said in a statement. “This decision was a major victory for our family business, and we are now excited to pursue options to develop our property. Eminent domain is for roads and schools, not for private development.”

Kholghy chided Glendale for continuing to list Wulfe as the developer on the project’s website until only a few weeks ago, even though it had dropped out months earlier. That non-disclosure cost the family and city taxpayers money by prolonging the lawsuit, the statement said.

When asked why Glendale didn’t disclose the split with Wulfe sooner, Line said “that isn’t something you put out there.”

Line insists that eminent domain was not an option when it came to the Kholghy’s parcel. He also adds that M.A.K. was among the firms that sought to develop Glendale 180.

“We have never, ever used eminent domain in urban renewal, ever,” he said. “We removed them out of the project area a year ago.”

Aldo Svaldi has worked at The Denver Post since 2000. His coverage areas have included residential real estate, economic development and the Colorado economy. He's also worked for Financial Times Energy, the Denver Business Journal and Arab News.

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